1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electrosurgical systems that utilize energy to perform electrosurgical procedures. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to an adaptor capable of connecting an ablation device to an electrosurgical generator to perform ablations.
2. Background of Related Art
In the treatment of diseases such as cancer, certain types of cancer cells have been found to denature at elevated temperatures (which are slightly lower than temperatures normally injurious to healthy cells.) These types of treatments, known generally as hyperthermia therapy, typically utilize electromagnetic radiation to heat diseased cells to temperatures above 41° C., while maintaining adjacent healthy cells at lower temperatures where irreversible cell destruction will not occur. Other procedures utilizing electromagnetic radiation to heat tissue also include ablation and coagulation of the tissue. Such ablation procedures, e.g., such as those performed for menorrhagia, are typically done to ablate and coagulate the targeted tissue to denature or kill the tissue. Many procedures and types of devices utilizing electromagnetic radiation therapy are known in the art. Such therapy is typically used in the treatment of tissue and organs such as the prostate, heart, liver, lung, kidney, and breast.
One non-invasive procedure generally involves the treatment of tissue (e.g., a tumor) underlying the skin via the use of radio frequency (RF) energy. The RF energy is able to non-invasively penetrate the skin to reach the underlying tissue. However, this non-invasive procedure may result in the unwanted heating of healthy tissue. Thus, the non-invasive use of RF energy requires a great deal of control.
RF ablation devices utilize the same or similar frequencies as electrosurgical devices. Accordingly, an electrosurgical generator should be able to drive an RF ablation device. However, there are challenges when trying to perform an RF ablation procedure using an electrosurgical device. For instance, although RF ablation devices and electrosurgical devices utilize similar frequencies, the different devices utilize different voltage and current waveforms. Electrosurgical devices utilize high voltage low current waveforms while RF ablation devices utilize high current low voltage waveforms.
Further, the connectors available with current RF ablation devices and electrosurgical generators are not complimentary. As such, RF ablation devices in existence can not be coupled to available electrosurgical devices.